The Howard Government's argument that higher world oil prices are largely to blame for petrol price rises is accepted by 41 percent of Australian voters, a new ACNielsen AgePoll reveals.

PM winning war of words on fuel

The Howard Government's argument that higher world oil prices are largely to blame for petrol price rises is accepted by 41 percent of Australian voters, a new ACNielsen AgePoll reveals.

But the sting in the tail for the government is that almost one in three Australians attribute rising petrol prices to Federal Government taxes.

Asked what was the major cause of recent increases in petrol prices, 41 percent said world oil prices and 31 percent said federal taxes.

This follows a campaign by motoring groups and demands by state leaders, including Victorian Premier Steve Bracks, for the Prime Minister to ease petrol price rises by reducing fuel excise indexation increases in February.

Mr Howard has also faced calls for fuel tax cuts from the National Party in Queensland and some of his own backbenchers, whose offices have been deluged with calls from angry motorists.

However, both Mr Howard and Treasurer Peter Costello have argued against freezing or reducing the fuel excise, saying the rise is mostly due to a doubling in world oil prices.

Instead, the government is expected to announce a new transport package, including roads funding, in a bid to counter motorists' anger at fuel taxes.

So far petrol price rises do not seem to be an issue on which people may change their vote.

For instance, the AgePoll shows that among Coalition supporters, only 18 percent identified federal taxes as the major cause of increases in petrol prices, whereas 41 percent of Labor Party voters blamed taxes.

The ALP is not benefiting from the present focus on high petrol prices, as the poll shows that support for the opposition was down two percentage points to 41 percent on first preferences and the Coalition support rose one point to 39 percent.

Both Mr Howard and Kim Beazley's approval ratings were down to 48 percent and 47 percent respectively. Mr Howard remained preferred as prime minister on 45 percent while support for Mr Beazley as a prime minister was up one point to 39 percent.

The poll of 2,066 voters was taken nationwide at the weekend. It revealed wide geographic differences on the issue of petrol prices.

Forty-one per cent of voters in Western Australians thought federal taxes were to blame for higher petrol prices, whereas only 24 percent of voters in New South Wales and 34 percent of Victorians thought so.

Major oil companies were blamed for higher petrol prices by 13 percent.